I am pretty sure it's been mentioned here before but for anyone who has missed it, on HW if you get a hot rate, you can add days on either end of your stay (and if I understood correctly NOT both - maybe someone could please clarify if they know?)
Feels like a million years ago now (lol) but we were scheduled to be in Orlando from 2/18-2/27 and renting a house with family from 2/19-2/27. I wanted to be at WDW for one night until family arrived the next day. Had booked a Hot Rate on HW for around $125 for the one night and got Pop.
Then that big storm came in that affected so many states and I just knew, being in DC where we don't know how to handle snow of any kind lol, would affect my flight. I was able to book a last-minute flight on Frontier for $39 one way (+suitcase carry-on) and quickly added 2 nights on my HW reservation to arrive that night. That was a good call since my original flight was indeed canceled.
It was two different Pop reservation numbers that I had to link into
MDE after adding the 2 days to my Hotwire reservation, but the stay all went so smoothly. I booked the room around 1 p.m. for a 6 p.m. arrival and we went straight to our room. We also didn't have to change rooms.
Just wanted to mention it in case anyone gets a great rate and wants to add a day or two. I'm not sure if it always gives the same exact price though. My extra 2 days were both at the original price I booked ($125). I'm relatively certain HW had Pop for the 2 add'l days I wanted at $99 if I booked blindly again, but I was in too much of a rush to gamble it.